Axle and bearing therefor



sepf. 18, 1928.

I J w. wHrrE AxLE AND BEARING THEREFOR Filed April 1'7. 1922 PatenteclSept. 1`8, 1928.

JOHN WILLIAM WHITE,

AxLE Ann BEARING THEREFOR.

Application flled April 17, 1922. Seria1 No. 554,074.

There are three general types of aXle construction now in use on motorVehicles, namely, semifioating, three-quarters float-ing and fullfloating axles. Of these three (lesigns, 5 experience has taught thatthe semifloatmg is the least expensive construction of the three butdifliculty has been experienced in the manufacture of this type of axlebecause of the additional expense necessary whenthe' semifloatingconstruction is used in the type of bearing and hub construction whichit has been necessary to use in conjunction therewith.

It is the prime object of my'invention to provide means whereby thesemifloatmg` construction of axle may be used without incurring theadditional expense heretofore necessary in the construction of thebearmg and hub portions thereof.

It is a further object of my lnvention to provide an axle havinga'continuous taper at its outer end and an anti-friction bearing, theraceway of whichis formed with a continuous taper on its inner peripheryadapted to conform with the taper on the axle shaft.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a suitable oilretainer of compressible material held in position between the innerrace of the said bearing and the housing receptacle for the axle shaft.

With these and other objectsv in view, my invention consists in thearrangement, combination and construction of the various parts of myimproved device as described in' the specification, claimed in m'y claimand shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a central sectional view of the end of an axle shaft with thebearings and hub attached thereto.

^Fig. 2 is atsectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. f

Fig; 3 is a perspective view of a key used in my improved device..

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing a modified form of rretainingmeans fo'r the bearing.

Figi 5.is a section of-a portion of the retaimngy ring. i

'In'the construction of my improved device I have shownan axle shaft 1.having a continuous taper on its outer end as is shown in Fig. 1 of thedrawings. I have also shown an Vaxle housing 2 and a housing fiange 3,to

which latter a portion of the brake drum 4 is secured by means of bolts5.,

Disposed on the taper'ed portion of the axle 1 is a ball bearingconsisting of an inner race 6, which is tapered to conform to the taperon the axle shaft 1, balls 7 and an outer race 8. lso disposed upon axleshaft 1 and abuttlng against the inner side of the inner race 6 is' aring 28 of compressible material such as felt, which is adapted to actas an oil retalner and to feed oil between the inner and outer racewaysto the balls.

The axle shaft 1 is screw threaded as at 9 and a nut 10 is adapted to bescrewed thereon against the inner race 6 so as to prevent the outwarddisplacement thereof. The nut 10 has a series of slots 11 thereinadapted to receive a key 12 which is'disposed within a slot on the axleshaft 1 and'held from longitudinal displacement by means of a nut 13secured on the end of the axle shaft by a cotter pm 27, or othersuitable means, thus securely ockmg the nut 10 in position against theinner race 6.

The key 12, a perspective view of which is shown in Fig. 3, is merely asmall steel bar having four equal rectangular sides half of one end ofwhich is cut parallel to the sides as shown at 20. The groove in theaxle is therefore capable of receiving the key no matter which side itis placed upon, but this is determined by theposition of the groove withreference to the slot 11 in the nut 'shown in Fig; 2. That is, if thegroove registers exactly with one of the slots 11`when the nut ist-ightened to its farthest point on the axle the key fitting into thegroove will alsoenter the slot no matter which side is placed upon butif when the' nut has been tightened the slot is slightly to one side orthe other of the groove the key can be turned upon the appropriate sideand the narrower edge of the' projecting portion thereof inserted intothe slot.

thus permitting the tightest possible connection of the nut on the axlewithout the surrender of the key looking arrangement.

Disposed around the nut 10 is a. packing washer 14 held thereon by aclamping ring 15, or, as shown in the modified construction,

the washer 14 may be disposed over the wash- I have shown a modifiedform of bearing retainer in Fig; 4, which consists ofa fiared washer 21disposed around the axle shaft 1 and disposed between the hub 22 and theinner race 6 of the bearing. A washer 23 may be disposed around theshaft and between the washer 21 and the race 6 if desired. The

washeral, being flared, is capable of being sprung or collapsed and thuswill readily adjust or absorb the mechanical tolerances between the huband the bearing.

5l` It Will be apparent from the above deheld but is made with acontinuous taper so that in the construction of the same, a. lesser Itis obvious that various changes may be made in the arrangement,combination and construction of the various parts of my improved deviceWithout departing from the spirit of my invention and it is my intentionto cover by my claiin su'ch changes as may be reasonably included Withinthe scope thereof.

What I claim is:

In combination, an axle shaft having a taamount of material isrequiredbeause there V- is no up-setting to be done and al'l .that isrequired is that the axle shaft be machined with a tapered end. Thebearing is fitted securely on the shaft by reason of the tapered innerraceway setting snugly on the tapered end of the shaft. It will also benoted that a novel oil retainer is provided and that novel means forsecuring the bearing against outward displacement is shown.

pered portion, a bearing having a tapered inner race ring adapted to fitover said tapered portion and to be held against movement in onedirection on said shaft by said tapered portion, a hub onsaid shaft anda compressible member rigidly held between said hub and said bearing tohold said bearing against movement on said shaft in the oppositedirection.

JOHN WILLIAM WHITE.

